COPE does its best for autistic man with facilities available, court told

The COPE Foundation in Cork is doing the best it can with the facilities available to it to provide education for children with special needs, an expert witness told the High Court yesterday.

COPE was also trying to develop new facilities where it felt its existing facilities were inadequate, Prof Peter Mittler said. He believed the foundation was genuinely committed to the needs of the people it serves.

A programme of education had been devised by COPE to meet the needs of a Cork man, Mr Jamie Sinnott (22), who the court has been told is severely mentally handicapped and autistic. It had been "shot down in flames" by US experts as falling short of US standards and best international practice, but Prof Mittler said he believed the criticism was "unnecessarily harsh" in the circumstances of what was at present available in Ireland.

In his view the COPE programme was a "stepping stone". But it would need a lot of work to bring it up to US, or even UK, standards.

Dr Mittler, who is UK-based, was called as a witness for the State in an action taken by Mr Sinnott and his mother, Kathryn, of Ballinhassig, Co Cork, for a declaration that their constitutional rights have been breached by the State's failure to provide free primary education for him, an order directing that such education be provided from now, and damages.

The defendants - the Minister for Education and the State - deny the claims.

The court has heard Mr Sinnott is attending The Orchards facility at Montenotte, Cork, run by COPE. A proposed care programme prepared by COPE for him was presented to the court last week and has since been assessed by two US specialists for the Sinnotts.

In reports read yesterday by Mr Paul Sreenan SC, for the Sinnotts, both specialists - Ms Beth Osten and Dr Margaret Creedon - described the programme as inadequate. It was not an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for Mr Sinnott, they said.

Dr Mittler told Mr James O'Reilly SC, for the State, that the proposed programme needed a lot of refinement. However, whether it could be refined to the degree desired by the US experts was another matter.

Cross-examined by Mr Sreenan, Dr Mittler agreed that the provision of six months' education for Mr Sinnott when he was 11 years old was unsatisfactory. But, he said, it was the system that had failed to deliver and not the service provider.

The hearing continues before Mr Justice Barr today.